Carry the Fire
by MidnightResWri
Summary: Danny became a superhero in a freak accident. It became was his life. His burden. So come along, reader. Journey from better days to the darker years with a dash of romance and angst. Songs by Chameleon Circuit. Challenge by VampireFrootLoopsRule. AU
1. Act 1, Scene 1: Gallifreyan History 101

**A/N: **So this entire thing is inspired by the third challenge posed by VampireFrootLoopsRule, in which one writes a song-fic(s) to every song they know to one's favorite artists/bands. I have plenty of favorites, so I decided to use one of the hardest I could use for this challenge, just to make it that much more difficult for myself. And, since I love Alternate Universes so much, this is set in one of those.

Band: Chameleon Circuit

Genre: Time Lord Rock a.k.a. Trock

Reason: Because I love Doctor Who, they're songs are very Whovian and I felt like attempting to meld the two fandoms together without involving a crossover narrative-wise.

Song Omissions and Reasons: "Journey's End" (from the CD "Chameleon Circuit") and "Big Bang Two" (from the CD "Still Got Legs") because both recap the season finales of the 4th and 5th New-Who seasons respectively and are difficult to adapt in a pleasing manner.

Song lyrics centered and in italics. Names of the songs are given as chapter titles.

Rated T for language, character death, violence

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the rights to Danny Phantom. I do not own the rights to the music of Chameleon Circuit. I do not own the rights to Doctor Who, from which the songs were inspired. Whew, now that's out of the way…Enjoy!

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><p><span>Carry the Fire<span>

By MidnightResWri

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><p><span>Act 1: He is Like Fire<span>

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><p><span>Scene 1: Gallifreyan History 101<span>

_"Alright class, I'm the Professor_

_I'm gonna begin the lecture today_

_Now, just so that we're all clear_

_This is Gallifreyan History 101_

In his tower, the Master of Time watched a specific point in time. A fixed point, he knew. One that must happen for every timeline to remain stable. He invited the visiting Observants to watch.

Fixed points were rare events, after all. And they needed to see this happen.

He had always known it would happen. Had already seen it happen in all the variations that could occur. Yet, this was not simply viewing the future event. The time streams of the universe had finally caught up to this anchoring moment. The Observants had chosen an opportune time to try to worm some sort of leash around his neck. And he knew, as did they, that they needed more than a petty problem to move the Master of Time to their whim.

_So please make sure you're in the right class_

_There's always one isn't there_

_Right for the rest of us we've got a lot to cover_

_So let's get started"_

The boy in the viewing globe walked down the stairs into his parent's basement. His only two friends followed after him, nearly bouncing down the steps. The black haired girl would later deny having felt such clear joy when the trio spoke of the event later in life. The African American boy shoved his glasses back up his nose with a finger while gushing over his fantasies of the technology he'd be able to see. It was the boy's first time showing anyone the lab, though it was still incomplete.

_At first we were just Gallifreyans and that was fine_

_Just taking up space and biding our time_

His parents were up in their room, going over calculations and their blueprints. They had their essays, research, and calculations that took years to solve spread on their bed. The woman in her blue hazmat suit chewed the end of a pencil as she studied five different documents at the same time, scratching out notes on a notepad in her lap. Her husband in orange sulked over the design of their invention that cost millions of government money. He reached for pages covered in math. He couldn't discover the location of the design flaw.

Their focus on their work would leave the three young teens alone in the basement.

_Until Rassilon came along_

_With his ever present sense of right and wrong_

"So…this is the lab," said the boy, Daniel 'Danny' Fenton, age fourteen. Human. He shrugged his shoulders as he glanced around the place. He saw the half-finished inventions his parents spent most of his childhood working on. He didn't have a memory of his parents that didn't have one of them tinkering with something or working on a design.

"Wow," said the girl, Samantha 'Sam' Manson, age fourteen. Human. "It's amazing down here." She walked over to one of counters filled with the inventions. She picked up a cylindrical shaped object, careful to avoid the sharper edges of the incomplete invention.

"That's the understatement of the century," said the other boy, Tucker Foley, age fourteen. Human. He rushed to one of the few finished inventions carefully placed on a shelving unit in the back of the lab. "This place is a gold mine for technology." He examined what he could see of the gun he held in his hands. "This stuff is so far ahead of the rest of the world!"

Danny rubbed the back of his head and turned his attention to the large impression into the wall. His parents had shown it to him three weeks before. Wires had hung from the ceiling and paneling still had to be bolted into place. Now, it looked like everything was ready.

He was there when they tried to turn it on, only to have something fail along the way. Danny didn't know what happened. The physics and theories were too grand for him to grasp. "You guys wanted to see the portal," he muttered, his eyes fixed on the thick metal rim.

"Aren't you curious?" asked Sam, lowering the cylinder to the table. Her violet eyes trailed over to the prized invention as well. "I mean, to see a completely different world."

Tucker had abandoned his focus on the ectogun and embraced the outermost parts of the portal. He had the look of being in love with the very machinery. He stroked the metal frame with one hand, whispering his declarations of admiration. "Beautiful working of metal," he cooed. "What wonders would you have created."

Danny chuckled at his friend's behavior. "Come on, Tuck. It's not gonna marry you, you know."

"Oh hey," Sam's voice cut off whatever Tucker's response would have been, "I found a camera. And it's not even messed with."

She held up the camera, blowing off some dust. It was an old Polaroid. A smile lit her features when she looked between Danny and the failed portal. He tilted his head, trying to understand what she was trying to tell him.

_He was strong, he was mighty_

_He was the founder of Time Lord Society_

He was never an observant boy, mused Clockwork from his vantage point. An Observant narrowed its eye. "Must this occur?" It asked in a deep bass of a voice. It sounded pompous even with the tone used. It grated on his nerves, but the Master of Time held his irritation in check.

"You know this is a fixed point," he answered, his form shifting into that of a child. "This must always happen in every reality where the Fenton line exists."

"This child will not have an easy life," said the other Observant. A prideful tenor for a voice.

"Neither did—_does_—Vladimir Masters," Clockwork mentioned, fiddling with his time staff. As an afterthought, he raised a finger to his finger to his lips, "Now please be quiet while you watch. You might learn something."

_Now this is the subject that everybody finds the hardest_

_But you're gonna have to pass it if you want to earn your TARDIS_

_Nobody's graduating from this academy_

_Until you've all mastered Gallifreyan History (Gallifreyan History)_

Sam laughed. "Come on, clueless," she opened the camera to see if there was any film. Her smile widened. "This camera has film in it. Let's get a picture to remember this day by."

Danny shook his head. He hated getting his picture taken. Ever since his parents had told him that pictures were once thought to steal a piece of one's soul—and with their obsession with ghosts, he had taken their words seriously—Danny tried to weasel out of every picture. He didn't believe in that now, but the habit was hard to kill. "No way, Sam."

He backed away from her when she stepped forward, raising the camera to her face. She mimed taking a picture, getting the expected reaction. Danny threw his arms over his face. He tripped on his own foot and fell onto a box. The cardboard top folded in under his weight and he could practically feel the protective spandex beneath his jeans. Danny struggled to get out of the box.

His friends had taken pity on him, having been foiled by something so simple as cardboard. They each took hold of an arm and pulled him out. "Thanks," said Danny, now rubbing his neck from embarrassment.

_Now Rassilon had a buddy called Omega_

_His interstellar science would amaze ya_

_He found our source of power_

_And devised a cunning plan in under an hour_

His friends peered inside the box. The boy dug inside it for a little while before pulling out a white and black suit. It looked like it would fit Danny like a glove. Sam and Tucker shared a knowing glance, twin smirks planted on their faces.

Tucker wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He held up the suit to eye level. He didn't miss the look of disgust on his best friend's face. "It'll be fun, man," said Tucker. "You can even get dressed up in this spare hazmat suits."

The black-haired boy recoiled under his friend's arm at the mention of those hazmat suits. His father had showed them to both him and Jazz long before the portal had been under construction. They had been sized for their expected sizes when they would be old enough to be lab assistants. Danny hated the one pointed out for him. Having his father's face on it didn't help him warm up to it either. "Are you serious?" His eyes narrowed and he ducked fully away from his friend. "There's no way I'm going to get my picture taken in _that_ thing."

Sam shook her head and laughed. "It's just one picture. We won't show anyone. Promise." She glanced at Tucker, who nodded eagerly in agreement. This would be their little joke for the future.

Danny looked at both of his friends, suspicion clear on his face. But he knew they wouldn't budge on something like this. He lowered his head, snatched the hazmat suit from Tucker, and muttered that he would do it. He didn't have to look at them to know that they were doing their individual victory dances. He did hear their triumphant high-five as he started climbing into the suit. He had sworn he'd never get into it. If only because his parents thought he'd follow their family business.

He was temporarily blinded by a flash from the Polaroid camera. He hadn't even gotten both legs in the stupid suit. "I thought it was just going be one photo," he growled, rubbing the spots out of his blue eyes.

"We'll take a few," Sam snickered. "Then we'll choose the best one for the scrapbook."

Danny pulled his arm through the sleeve and looked at his friends. "There's a scrapbook?"

The Goth shrugged. "Well, yeah." Then her eyes narrowed and she raised her fist at the two boys. "You tell anyone I scrapbook, I'll feed you to a bunch of hungry pigs."

Tucker swallowed at the thought of being eaten by bacon. Danny shivered at the thought of never being found again. She looked satisfied that her secret was safe. The friends watched Danny finish getting his suit on. He zipped it up revealing Jack Fenton's smiling face. He saw Tucker cringe and Sam made an open sound of disgust. At least they shared the same opinions of how the thing looked.

Danny tugged at the spandex. "Can we just get this done with?"

_It went sour, he was erased_

_But at least now we could travel through time and space_

Sam walked over to him, examining Jack's face on his chest. A small smile curled on her lips when she peeled the sticker away. "There," she said, "that's much better. Now, go over to the portal's entrance. Tucker and I will take turns taking a photo. Since I took my first one," she handed Tucker the camera, "it's his turn."

Danny sighed and walked over to the portal's entrance. He wondered if he should strike some sort of pose. From the way Sam was standing, he took that as a hint. No one could say he was completely clueless. Sometimes he got the hint. So Danny placed a fist at his waist and raised his other hand with an offhand flourish. He copied an expression he'd seen on his parents all too often when they talked about their inventions. It took every ounce of his concentration to keep his face still while he heard Sam and Tucker snicker. Then the flash of light. Temporary blindness. And Danny relaxed.

"Okay," he said, "the next is the last one. I'll take that camera from you by force if I have you." He crossed his arms, partly as a way to make sure he was still whole, partly to try and appear authoritative.

"Buzz kill," Tucker grumbled, passing the camera over to Sam.

Danny threw his best friend a glare and shrugged. "Whatever. I just wanna get this over with."

He started to pose again, like some sort of mad scientist. Danny thought he might as try to have fun with the last picture. But Sam stopped him. "Wait a minute," she pointed to the interior of the portal. "Get inside it."

"Why?" Danny looked between the girl and the interior of the portal. He felt a ball of nerves bunch in his stomach.

"Pretend you're working on the finishing touches," said Sam.

_Now if there's a subject that's impossible it's this_

_In comparison, the Untempered Schism's a piece of piss_

_But nobody's graduating from this academy_

_Until you've all mastered Gallifreyan History _

_(Gallifreyan History)_

The Master of Time felt the seconds tick down to the exact second that the fixed point began. Every surface of his lair used for viewing points in time became locked on this one moment. Every angle in that room one could possibly imagine could be seen. He spied one of the Observants watching the scene from the vantage point of within the portal itself. The other annoyance had taken to looking from one viewing portal to the next. "Clockwork, this is amazing," the tenor exclaimed.

"Hm, it's not so special," the ghost shifted into his oldest form, his beard nearly longer than his wiry ghostly tail. "If I wanted, I could watch every point in time this way."

"Is this your doing then, Clockwork?" The bass rumbled. His eyes were still fixed on the scene playing out before him. He watched the fated child put the suit on over his clothing from behind. He heard the conversation with a hollow echo behind each word. He saw the picture taken from his awkward angle. The Observant mused, then, that it was also the best angle for witnessing this moment in time.

"It is not," the Master of Time rose from the floor, aging back down to his adult form. His eyes glanced upon a close up of Danny's expression as the camera flashed. "My viewing portals are temporally sensitive." He smiled as his eyes traveled to another port, showing the three together on the same frame. It was one of his smaller surfaces. But that was just fine. Everything was fine. "Especially to those rare fixed points. They key in on those moments, watching them at once."

The Observants glanced at each other. The tenor said in a quiet voice he thought Clockwork could not hear, "We could use his power. We would be able to see more of these…fixed events and make them work in the favor of the High Council."

"Indeed," said his partner, "it would greatly increase our own authority."

They had forgotten that Clockwork did not need to hear their voices. He already knew what they wanted. Had known what they would say before they said it. He shook his head at their stupidity. His red eyes turned to a larger viewing port, watching the event finally unfold.

_Ahh, let's go!_

Danny stepped into the portal. There was no light on the inside. His parents didn't see the need of one. It was supposed to work when they plugged it in. No light necessary. He felt his way along with a hand on the smooth metal paneling. He could hear his own breathing echoing off the walls. Adrenaline started pumping through his system as his brain processed just what it was he was doing.

He was walking into the portal his parents spent years slaving over. He was standing in their most prized work. He was touching the interior of the portal that should have opened a door to the world of the dead.

Danny didn't see the stray cable until it was too late. His hand hit something protruding from the wall as he fell to the ground. There was a cry of shock from his friends. The standard question might have been asked. He crawled to his knees and shook his head. He heard something whirring around him. A pin prick of light formed at the very end of the small shaft.

Danny stared at the light as he picked himself up. The light grew in intensity and eventually became large enough to fill the space of the portal. He could hear them calling to him—just barely—over the whine of something powering up. He turned around to tell them they would need to speak louder. The minute he did, the light flooded around him, filling his vision with brilliant white. Danny gasped and tried to find the walls of the portal to find his way out. He had the feeling that he needed to get out.

From behind him, Danny was caught in a blast of pure ectoplasm. A breach between realms ripped open, catching the unfortunate teen in its explosive birth. His scream echoed through the lab. His friends called out to him, but he could not hear them. Danny grabbed his head as he felt his heart stop. A small voice in his head told him he was dead, but he couldn't be. He could still feel the pain. There was no way he could be dead.

He felt freezing cold. A cold that carried the feeling of dread and death worm its way into his body, staying with him. Danny's scream ended prematurely as his tried to breathe against that cold. He couldn't draw in any air to his lungs. Maybe he was dead.

Eventually, the blinding light subsided. Danny, while still conscious, stumbled out of the now open portal. His friends gasped when they saw him. Had he a mirror, he would have shared their reaction. Instead, he gave them a wry smile, trying to show them that he was fine. His ears were still ringing from his own scream and the whine of the machine turning on. He saw their mouths move in speech, but he couldn't hear them.

Sam touched his shoulder, but he didn't feel it. She gasped and pulled her hand to her chest. Tucker took an involuntary step away from him. Danny's smiled dropped and he looked between the two of them. What had gotten into them?

Their friend looked inverted. Black hair turned snow white. Baby blue eyes became neon green. The suit had even become inverted. He gave off the feeling of death and decay. Both teens wondered if their friend had died inside that contraption and they were only seeing his shade.

Danny took a step forward, stumbled and fell to his knees. His vision wavered and he closed his eyes. A bright light, not unlike the one he had seen inside the portal, passed over his eyes. He felt warm, even when he fell to the cold lab floor. The boy lost consciousness.

_So now we're all Time Lords and that's just fine_

_We're traveling through space, bouncing through time_

The scream had pulled his parents out of their stupor with their calculations. They paused in their work as their tired minds processed what that horrible sound was. Maddie was the first to react, her motherly instincts kicking into gear. She pulled her overweight husband to his feet and pulled him out of their room. That sounded like her son. Her baby boy was in trouble.

The woman flew down the stairs. Her husband lumbered after her, but she wouldn't wait for him. She had to get to her boy.

She threw open the door to the lab, descending into the basement. She shivered near the bottom, but pushed that aside as she noted Sam and Tucker kneeling over her son's unconscious form. A green light washed over the three of them. Something told her that was an important detail, but she pushed that aside for the concern for her son. "Danny," she whispered.

Sam and Tucker turned at the sound of her voice. They looked like they wanted to say something, but they looked too terrified to form anything coherent. They moved away from their friend enough for the woman to rush to her son. The woman knelt down at her son's side. A trembling hand reached for his neck, to find a pulse. An audible sigh escaped her when she felt a slow, but steady, heartbeat. "Jack," she said. "Jack!"

The man finally entered the basement. His eyes landed on the working Ghost Portal. "It's working," he said, excitement bubbling inside him. "It's working Maddie-cakes!"

"Jack, it's Danny," she told him. The man snapped from his joy and went to his wife. She looked worried for her son, but didn't to move him. She was afraid Danny would die if she did.

The man's face fell when he saw the shape his boy was in. He looked like he'd been electrocuted, burned, and battered by some cruel force of nature. His words stayed locked in his head for once. Jack turned to the remaining teens, piecing together a question. "Kids," his voice lost the joviality it usually held, "what happened?"

"We w-were just m-messing around," said Tucker, messing with his glasses. He looked to Sam, hoping she would be strong enough to answer the parents.

"Dan-Danny was showing us the lab," began Sam, not meeting the eyes of either parent. She hugged her arms to her chest. "We just wanted a few pictures for later. I-it was my idea that he go in the portal. It was gonna be the last picture. Pretend he was working on the portal."

"Oh no." Maddie threw away what self control she had and rocked her son in her arms, running her fingers through his hair. She had already pieced together what happened after her son entered the portal. Tears formed in her eyes. "Jack, call an ambulance."

_But we've made it clear not to interfere_

_And that's a rule to which we all must adhere_

_But I fear that the Doc_

_Is about causing havoc in his big blue box_

_Now that takes us up to date and everything's just gravy_

_I only hope it doesn't get messed up by Russell T Davies_

_Nobody's graduating from this academy_

_Until you've all mastered Gallifreyan_

_Until you can say you're Gallifreyan_

_Until you know all about Gallifreyan History_

Clockwork turned his attention away from the viewing ports. Most of them were already drifting to other times and places. Other planets. Other timelines. He had watched what he always knew would happen. Now the time stream returned to its ever flowing, ever flexible state.

Until the next fixed point came along.

It would be another thousand years before an event like this happened again somewhere in the vast expanse of the universe. He casually aged himself down to the same age as the boy who nearly died completely. The boy would become integral towards shaping the planet's history.

He saw every possible reality. Realities in which he fell into the darkness and the lure of abusing his new power. Ones in which he remained steadfast in the light and incorruptible. Ones in which he fell into the spaces between, dancing in the gray areas. Ones where every choice was his. Ones where he was used as nothing more than an object.

Yes, Clockwork mused as he rubbed his chin, the boy had so much potential. The paths of time branched off from this moment. He had the whole of time at his feet. Very few individuals had that amount of power.

The Observants were back together, quietly discussing what they witnessed. He knew they would watch this boy. They knew what he was.

Daniel Fenton would need allies. The Master of Time knew he would meet the young boy soon. He would become a friend in the mind of the teen.

He gave the Observants a glance and let out a breath. "The show is over," he pointed to the door. "Your purpose here has been fulfilled." The two green ghosts bristled in anger at the superior way Clockwork spoke to them. "Until the next time."

"_Right same time next week"_

The two ghosts left his tower and Clockwork went to the one viewing portal still lingering on the scene. He smirked as he watched the boy on a stretcher being carried up the laboratory stairs. His parents' worried expressions and mutterings. His friends looking guilty and frightened at the same time. This was going to be a new experience for all of them. But especially for Daniel "Danny" Fenton, age fourteen. Human-ghost Hybrid.

And everything was just as it should be.

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><p><strong>AN:** I know, we started with the accident that started it all. But as Clockwork said, it's a fixed point. It must always happen. Okay, so I'm totally bringing in some Doctor Who-ish views on how time works. It totally works for this, I think.

I also apologize for the use of a pretty-obscure-outside-of-the-fandom-and-especially-obscure-to-those-outside-the-UK choice in music. You'll just have to go to youtube and listen to their songs if you don't know them. And that's a shame (not). Even if you don't like Doctor Who or have never watched it, the songs are still very entertaining.

If you enjoyed it, or even if you didn't, I'd love to have some feedback.


	2. Act 1, Scene 2: An Awful Lot of Running

**A/N:** Introducing Alt!Vlad a chapter sooner than I originally planned. But, he can have an extended introduction. He doesn't play much of a role in the next two Acts. And by "not much" I mean none at all. Enjoy him while he lasts. I mean it.

So, this song is from the viewpoint of a companion. Enjoy a more Sam and Tucker centric chapter as well. Hm…you'd think I'd make it more Danny and Vlad. Oh well.

**Disclaimer:** Do I own any of the copyrights? No. Am I making a profit off this? No.

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><p><span>Carry the Fire<span>

By MidnightResWri

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><p><span>Scene 2: An Awful Lot of Running<span>

They were screaming. The locked down school had been herded into the one space large enough to fit every student: the gym. The ghost that hovered over them had multiple duplicates blocking the exits. Even if they wanted to, the student body could not leave. So instead, they pressed in, compressing themselves and holding onto the closest person. Had they been in any other situation, the cliques would never have been as dissolved as they had been in that moment.

Light blue eyes glared up at the specter above them. It was the first time he got a good look at this one. The ghost had deathly pale skin, long black hair that was swept back and up behind him, and a trim goatee. His shirt and pants were stainless white. The gloves and boots were back. A red-lined cloak draped over his shoulders, falling to his calves. The ghost crossed his arms, tapping a finger on his elbow. He appeared to be waiting for something.

Danny decided to risk intangibility in the crowd, heading to the bleachers. He phased through the tightly packed bodies, ignoring the strangeness of . Through the sobbing and the shrieks, Danny heard his friends trying to find him. He wished they knew where they were. It was easier fighting ghosts with them by his side. But there were too many people for them to have a chance to help.

As he ran through his classmates, ignoring their startled cries, Danny wondered why this ghost decided to allow himself to be seen. The ghosts he fought with before in the last three months took care to stay out of public eye. Usually, they were too weak to be seen with a casual glance. They also tended to shy away from being seen outright.

This one was definitely different.

In moments, Danny was beneath bleachers. The metal frame supporting hundreds of students, who pulled it out in order to sit down and avoid being crushed, gave him the proper cover needed. He reached into his icy core, forgoing his usual battle cry, and drawing out the bright rings of light. He couldn't let himself be found out yet, after all.

The rings washed over his legs and raised arms, changing him as they went.

His heart stopped. He stopped breathing. The world became so much clearer. The amount of power flowing off that ghost and his duplicates was a lot more than his previous foes. Danny nearly hesitated going into the fray. But the fear, anxiety, and confusion radiating off those trapped in the large room told him otherwise.

He willed himself invisible when he flew through the bleachers. He hovered over the crowd, scanning for Sam and Tucker. Wherever the two friends were, he couldn't see them from his first round over the student body. He'd have to face the ghost alone, it seemed. He dropped his cover, showing himself to the ghost and to the school. A collective gasp from below and a renewed set of screams. He wanted to reassure them that he wasn't an enemy and he wanted to help them, but he doubted they would listen.

The ghost smirked. One of his duplicates left its post at a door and returned to the original. It looked like no one noticed an exit had been opened for them. Every pair of eyes were locked on the two ghosts so high up in the air.

_He is like fire_

_Burning through time_

_As old as forever_

_But fast in his prime_

Two of the smaller freshman pushed their way to the bleachers. It took considerable effort for them to squeeze through their peers. They had been separated by the crowd, yet both had the same destination. A better vantage point. A better chance to help.

_I saw his blue spaceship materialize_

The girl arrived first, shouting over the noise the living made to get to the topmost row. She stood on the bench, her violet eyes narrowed on the attacking ghost. If only she'd had the time to grab one of the weapons from her locker. She wanted to blast this cocky spirit back to the Ghost Zone for messing with her school. But for now, she could only watch.

The boy, as he slid between another two bodies, lost his glasses. They clattered to the floor and he dropped to his knees, hoping the crowd wouldn't shift again so he could grab them. He reached for their black rims. Unfortunately, someone took a step back, their heel hitting the frames. The glasses slid out of the boy's grasp. He muttered an angry curse and shouldered his way through the tangle of legs and picked up his glasses.

To keep his body out of the danger of being stepped on, he stood up and returned to his slow progress of getting to higher ground. He constantly sent glances up to the ghosts, mumbling one phrase over and over, "Gotta help Danny."

_He looked out and said to me, "Run for your life!"_

When he finally reached the foot of the bleachers, he noticed Sam already at the top. Tucker tightened his grip on his backpack. His locker had been on the way to the gym. He prayed that he would be able to do something to help his friend. He climbed to the top and stood next to his friend. She looked from him to the bag. "Have anything?" asked Sam. Her hands were wringing themselves in worry.

Tucker threw a glace up to Danny, who was already fighting with the ghost. The blue-tinged spirit laughed as it raised a shield to deflect an ectoray. It ricocheted and went into the crowd hitting some of the humans. His best friend shot down to the injured. It looked like Paulina, the most popular freshman, and Kwan, another one of that exclusive crowd, had gotten hit his blast. The guilty expression on Danny's face as he looked at the damage he caused tugged at Tucker.

Sam looked like she was about to run to Danny and slap him for letting his guilt get the best of him. "Get them out of there," she seethed.

Danny's green eyes met hers and he nodded as if he had heard her. He reached down to pick up the fallen Latino and Asian when a red blast sent him through the crowd and into one the duplicates. Strong arms pinned him to the other ghost.

The original flew down and stalked over to him, passing through the real bodies with no visible effort. The boy shook his head to clear it the fuzzy thoughts and began struggling. He knew he had to get his classmates out of the gym. "What are you doing?" He yelled, eyes looking past the ghost. "Get out of here!"

Sam turned her gaze back to Tucker and ripped his bag off his shoulder. "Tell me you have something in here," she said as she dug through the bag.

She pulled out a Fenton Thermos. The only anti-ghost device he had. It would be useless until the duplicates had been taken care of. She gritted her teeth in her frustration. Danny was in danger.

People thundered toward the exits. The duplicates standing guard offered no resistance, allowing them to pass right through them and escape.

_I don't know why I never thought to ask him for his name._

_I really don't think he'd have told me the truth anyway_

_But that's okay_

The wounded students had been saved from being trampled by their friends, who went to help them once the ghosts weren't around them. Both suffered serious burns on their backs. Someone might have dialed 911 for them.

It took ten minutes for the students to finish pushing each other out of the doors. The gym held the duplicates, Danny, Sam and Tucker. The two friends refusing to leave.

Danny continued to fight against the hold the duplicate held on him. He tried intangibility, though he knew the results of that. Spectral entities couldn't pass through each other. He kicked at the legs of the duplicate and yelled, "Let me go!"

The older ghost ignored him. He lowered his face to Danny's, "You came pretty quickly, boy."

The teen shuddered from the onslaught of curiosity and rage he felt from the ghost. He was mostly glad that the torrent of fear that had hung around the air was finally leaving since the crowd had vanished.

He still didn't know why he could only feel the emotions in his ghostly form. Neither of his friends knew he had that ability. He never wanted them to know. They might think it happens all the time.

"Don't be so frightened," the older ghost took a few steps back, laughing at the emotions coming from the hybrid. Those demonic red eyes looked down at him. "You're only the newest thorn in my side. One that will be removed shortly. It's nothing too personal, I assure you." He raised a hand, already glowing with deadly red energy

"Get away from him, you creep," shouted Sam, holding the Thermos in front of her as if it were an ectogun. Her arms shook with anger and terror. She and Tucker were still on top of the bleachers. She prayed the ghost couldn't see either her shaking or the shape of the Thermos.

_It's completely terrifying but it's so, so exciting_

_He said I was brilliant and I could change the world_

The ghost snapped his head over to the two remaining humans. He didn't have to make a move for the last two duplicates flew over to them.

Tucker ducked his head and ran down the stairs, crying out in fear. Sam followed after him, trying to hold off the two ghosts with the thermos. She focused on Danny's cries for them to run. To get out of the gym.

She had no intention of leaving him. He'd saved her too many times for her to not want to return the favor. How many ghost fights had they been in anyways? The girl had lost count.

The duplicates only needed a minute to capture his friends. The Thermos dropped to the gym floor and roll away. Sam was fighting the one holding her. Tucker was kicking the air, being held up by one arm. The copies looked more amused than anything else. "Well, boy," the original mocked, "it looks like you have friends."

"More than you do," spat Sam. Her arms had been pinned behind her back. The ghost raised them a centimeter higher and she winced from the pain. She had been in this position a number of times before. One more wasn't going to be any different. "And we've been by his side for years."

_So many places I've been- there's so much more to see_

Danny managed to break free from the duplicate with an emerald blast of energy. It hit the wall behind him and blinked out of existence. He sent another beam at the one holding Sam. That one saw it coming and ducked away from the blast. The banners on the far wall caught fire. The sprinkler system turned on, dowsing both Sam and Tucker. The two ghosts remained unaffected by the change of environment.

Growling, Danny lunged at the duplicates, charging more blasts. He had to be careful not to hit his friends. A hand around his ankle stopped him, dragging him back. He released the blasts prematurely, sending them far off their mark. The ceiling received a new hole, the debris falling to the floor in large sections. The pieces almost hit his friends. A section of the support beams on the bleachers were bent and glowing red.

"Oh, you want to save them, don't you, child," the ghost sneered. He swung the young ghost over his head before tossing him into the air. The two duplicates dropped their hostages and merged back with their creator. "How can you if you can't save yourself?"

_We've got galaxies and planets and moons._

_And an awful lot of running to do._

Sam had taken unwilling steps forward to catch her balance. Her boots gave her pretty good footing in the now slick floor. She was worried for her friend in the air. They needed weapons to fight this ghost. She didn't understand why this ghost wanted Danny Phantom to come anyway.

Tucker fell without grace on his bottom, landing in a growing puddle of standing water. He immediately reached into his pocket, feeling for the now useless piece of technology. "Aw man," he grumbled, "that cost me a year's allowance!"

The girl pulled him up by the arm, glaring at him. "Forget your PDA. Let's go," she said, dragging him by the sleeve of his shirt. She ignored the drops of the still active sprinklers and jumped over the smaller piles of debris.

"We're not leaving Danny are we?" Tucker half-tripped over a piece of the ceiling when he cast a worried look at his friend, battling the ghost.

"Not for long," she grumbled. She burst into a run, leaving the techno-geek behind her. She splashed her way to the gym doors, throwing them open. The halls were stranded. Everyone else was probably outside or at home.

Sam ran down the halls, turning corners where necessary, until she reached her locker. Her hand trembled as she turned the knob. She couldn't get the combination right for the life of her. "Damn it, Sam," she whispered, "this is no time to forget something so important!" Another try at the combination ended in failure.

A frustrated growl and a hard hit to the metal door later, Sam was glaring at the knob. Too much time had passed. She needed to get back to the battle. She needed to help.

Tucker finally arrived at her side, bending over his knees and breathing heavily. She shot him a glare, though he didn't see it. "Can you open this stupid thing?" She asked, pointing at her locker.

"Yeah," he swallowed another gulp of air. "Just give me a…second."

Sam grabbed his soaked sweater and pulled him up to her eye level. "Do it. Now," she ordered. "Danny needs us."

Tucker grumbled and smoothed out the wrinkles in his sweater. He complied with his friend's demand though he was still out of breath. She was right. Danny was facing something more powerful than they were used to. That ghost didn't even look strained making itself fully visible with the rest of the world. Unlike the box ghost or even Skulker, both of which had a more transparent look to them when they were noticed.

_As a full-time companion, he gave me a key_

_And a phone with a signal in every galaxy_

His fingers worked the combination to his friend's locker. A soft click told him he'd been correct and he pulled the door open. Sam immediately shoved him aside and reached in, grabbing the small ecto-pistols Danny had given her for the times they were separated during a ghost fight. Sam tossed one to Tucker, keeping two for herself. He looked at the amount of charge it had before he was satisfied. He already knew Sam was doing the same.

Without another word, they followed the sound of battle until the returned to the gym. The sprinkler system had turned off. There were more holes in the ceiling. The bleachers that had given Danny his cover to change collapsed at the center. There were smaller scorch marks on the walls. Her eyes strained to find the two ghosts. The room's temperature was still down about twenty degrees. They had to be in there. She could still feel Danny.

"Tucker, can you see them?" she asked, raising her guns in the air. Her index fingers hovered over the triggers.

"Nada," responded Tucker, looking around the entire gym. He inched forward, his pistol lowered at the ground as he moved forward. He guessed they were either invisible or finally above the school. "Can you sense him?"

She had told Tucker about that sometime during the second month after Danny's accident in the lab out of necessity. The techno-geek had asked how she knew where Danny was the entire time they'd been searching for him after that specter, Skulker, had taken him by surprise. The connection between she and Danny was as old as accident, too. Sam thought it had something to do with what happened back then. She hadn't told Danny about it, though. She didn't want him to think he was causing it somehow.

_As we fell through the vortex, I felt so free_

_Please don't let this danger just be another dream._

_'Cause my life before you was unreasonably mundane._

_Never been happier although we face death everyday, I wouldn't have it any other way._

Sam closed her eyes, concentrating on Danny. The link was harder to find than usual, but he was still close by. "He's still in the room," she reported. "Just…weakened."

"You would be correct, girl," the voice of the ghost reappeared behind her, an unconscious Danny Fenton held in the crook of his arm. She turned on her heel, pointing the gun at the ghost. He smirked and held the battered boy up by the back of his shirt as a shield. "I am surprised the two of you holding ecto-guns. What good will those do in your hands?"

"Danny," she breathed, keeping her weapons trained on the ghost holding her friend. No wonder he felt so weak to her. Sam bared her teeth at the ghost, anger flooding off her. The ghost's smile widened.

Tucker had his pistol aimed at the ghost as well. He mentally cursed himself for not having anything more powerful on this ghost. He still looked solid. That wasn't a good sign. He blinked a few drops of water out of his eyes. He had a clearer shot than Sam from his angle. The ghost seemed fixated on her, too. He could take the shot and save Danny. It was a shame his hands were shaking to aim properly. He bit his lip to keep himself from making a noise.

The boy thought he'd gotten over the initial fear of ghosts. But there was Danny in a ghost's grasp. A ghost that had enough power to beat his halfa friend down and still look like he'd used hardly any strength. That terrified him more than anything: there were ghosts that could actually beat Danny.

_It's completely terrifying but it's so, so exciting_

_He said I was brilliant and I could change the world,_

The solid red eyes glanced at Tucker. The boy swallowed the lump in his throat and kept himself from trembling anymore than he was. "You, boy, should really consider lowering that before you shoot your eye out," the ghost said.

"I'm not much of a shot, normally," Tucker agreed, the words falling out of his mouth before he could stop them. "But I'm still holding a piece of tech. It won't let me miss."

The ghost took a step forward, causing the boy to take one back on instinct. He kept his arms raised, keeping the weapon pinned on the ghost. He had to stop shaking, if only to help his friend. His thumb pressed a button on the side of the pistol, a blast beginning to charge in the chamber. His index finger twitched over the trigger, but not quite touching it. The ghost was still using Danny as a shield. "Drop my friend, creep," he warned, hearing all of the shaking from his arms go into his voice.

It was a sick chuckle the two teens heard from the spirit. "_You_ are threatening me? Hilarious. You're what, fourteen? And the name's Plasmius, to you."

_So many places I've been_

_There's so much more to see,_

_We've got galaxies and planets and moons_

Sam fired the first shot, hitting the ghost's head. She wouldn't dare let him think that their age made them incapable of protecting their friend. His neck snapped at a sickening speed, but he didn't slacken his grip on Danny. It took Plasmius a moment to straighten his head, a frown firmly set. A small hole burned into his temple from where the ectoshot hit him. Flesh began knitting itself back together.

_And an awful lot of running to do._

The ghost turned his back on Tucker, his full attention on the Goth girl. Such a clear shot presented itself to the boy. The ghost lifted itself from the ground, floating over to Sam. Tucker's finger continued hovering over the trigger. His mind screamed at him to take the shot. His mouth screamed, "Sam, run! Now!" He took the shot, hitting the specter in the back. A small tear in the cloak, but it didn't look like any physical damage had been done to Plasmius's body at all.

The girl, who kept her eyes on the unconscious teen in Plasmius's arms, hesitated. When she heard Tucker's pistol fire, she darted to the nearest wall. She fired a shot as she ran, hoping it hit its mark. Sam was close to the door, but she wouldn't leave, though. She wouldn't do that to Danny again. She kept her back to the wall, her guns trained on Plasmius.

Tucker was surprised to see a duplicate appear in front of him. He took a few steps back, firing successive rounds from the tiny ectogun. He wished he could fit a bazooka in those lockers. They would have done more damage. The blasts hit the copy. It gave the boy enough time to run around the duplicate, shooting another round at its back. It hissed in pain at the last shot and Tucker let out a cry of triumph.

He ran for the original, with the intent on prying Danny loose.

_"And you know you can fix that Chameleon Circuit if you just try hot wiring the fragment links and superseding the binary binary binary binary binary binary..."_

Plasmius simply rose above the two humans and let his duplicate finish them. It wouldn't take long.

Tucker cried out with pain when the duplicate caught up with him and grasped his wrist, twisting it in an unnatural angle. He dropped the pistol. It landed in a puddle, giving a short burst of electricity just by his feet, useless. He was pulled up by his captured arm once again. He could still touch the floor with the tips of his shoes. "Let's make sure you don't try that again, shall we?" said the copy, snapping the boy's wrist with a sickening crack.

Tucker screamed from the pain, feeling slick blood running down his arm and was somehow getting absorbed into his already saturated sweater. He was dropped to the ground with out ceremony and he cradled the broken wrist to his chest. He held back his sobs and fought against the black edges in his vision. Pain shot up his arm in painful stabs. If he looked down, he would see pearly bone poking through flesh.

"Tucker!" Sam called, firing multiple blasts at the duplicate from her pistols. The copy was forced back into Plasmius, the blasts doing more damage than they had before. "You'll pay for hurting my friends, you slime!"

_It's completely terrifying but it's so, so exciting_

_He said I was brilliant and I could change the world_

Plasmius growled and glared down at the girl. He adjusted his hold on Danny and disappeared in a flash of light. He reappeared beside the girl under a cloak of invisibility. The girl was smart enough to keep her back to the wall, though he saw she really wanted to dash to her friend's side. He reached out, touching her on the shoulder. She shivered under his touched and her violet eyes flicked over to his direction. She seemed to be looking straight at the boy called Danny. Her eyes widened with the realization of what was about to happen.

He charged electricity in his hands, channeling it through the young girl's body. Plasmius listened to her shrill screams, using them as a gauge for adjusting the electricity's voltage. When she finally fell limp and slid down the wall, he dissipated the electrical energy and dropped his invisibility. He looked over to see the other boy passed out from his own pain.

_So many places I've been_

_There's so much more to see_

_We've got galaxies, and planets, and moons_

_And an awful lot of running to do._

Plasmius smiled and summoned two black rings at his waist. One traveled up, the other down. His appearance changed wherever the rings had passed. He lost much of the bulk of his arms and torso, returning to his natural lanky body. His hair returned to its silver color, pulled back in its pony tail. The medieval styled garb became a classy black business suit. Solid red eyes changed back to a more human midnight-blue irises surrounded by white. His flesh regained its color with the renewed blood flow from the restarted heart.

He adjusted the boy again and reached into an interior pocket to pull out a cell phone. He dialed a number while he walked through the empty halls of the school using his invisibility. "Hello…Yes, I'm afraid something dreadful has happened at Casper High School…You don't say…Emergency services are already there?…I'm sorry to inform you that two students were wounded in all the ruckus…No, they haven't been treated yet...Yes, they _still_ require medical attention." He left the school the moment he hung up the phone, muttering about the stupidity of the world.

The school had plenty of activity around it. Students were still gawking at the building. Teachers were trying to keep the situation relatively calm. The police had taped off the entrance and a few firetrucks were parked on the lawn. None of that mattered to the man. He didn't care about the chaos he caused in the aftermath of the small fight.

He slipped past all of them with his power and regained visibility the moment he was away from any prying eyes.

The man took a satisfied breath when he looked down at the child in his arms. It was fortunate that he found the boy. He was no longer alone and the potential wouldn't be wasted. He couldn't help but be amused by the irony of the situation. He knew who the ghost boy of Amity Park was now. Daniel Fenton, son of the man he despised and the woman he proclaimed to love.

The occasional whim to check up on the family had proved useful.

Well now, he might as well visit his favorite family and explain how their son got those awful wounds, now shouldn't he?

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><p><strong>AN: **I feel horrible breaking Tucker's wrist.


	3. Act 1, Scene 3: Count the Shadows

**A/N:** Welcome to the Act 1 Finale. We have so much more to do after this one. And, this is the chapter intended to introduce Alt!Vlad. It was going to be so different from the current form, it's not even funny. This time it's more Danny and Vlad centric. Yay!…or not, either works.

**Disclaimer: **What? No. Sorry, I'm not claiming anything. Songs, characters, settings, etc. belong to their respective owners.

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><p><span>Carry the Fire<span>

By MidnightResWri

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><p><span>Scene 3: Count the Shadows<span>

Danny opened his eyes too quickly. The light above him stung his retinas and he threw an arm over his eyes in an attempt to sooth the pounding in his head he noticed at that same moment. His arm hurt, as did his back, legs, and neck. He couldn't remember why he was so sore. He should be in school, really. Did he fall asleep in class again? Maybe he had been moved to the Nurse's office. Lancer was going to give him detention for sure. He groaned.

"Danny?" asked a sweet voice that could only belong to his mother. The school must have called her to pick him up, he thought. "Danny how are you feeling?"

Her hand touched his forearm currently covering his eyes. He lowered it, but kept his eyes closed. It was still too bright, even behind his eyelids. "Like everything hurts," he rasped. His throat, he now knew, was dry. He cracked an eye open, wincing at the light, and tried to make out the ceiling of the nurse's office. That's where he had to be. But the bed was too soft to be that lumpy thing they had there. He also didn't remember it having any sheets. "Where am I?"

"You're home, dear," she answered. "In your bed, safe and sound from that nasty ghost."

Both eyes flew open when the memory came back to him. He regretted it immediately, but he didn't dare close his eyes again. He remembered the strange vampire like ghost that attacked the school. The promise to kill him still rang in his head. The strength ghost held had been incredible. He was actually surprised he breathed and paid attention to how the air moved into his lungs. He'd never been so happy to breathe in his entire life.

"Did you and dad come to the school?" He asked. They would have been able to beat that ghost, he thought.

_The day is almost over and the sunlight is going_

_And the people walk in shadows, completely unknowing_

Maddie sat beside her son and stroked his hair. She frowned and said, "No, we didn't, sweetie." Danny's expression matched his mothers and pushed himself up on his bed.

He was about to ask what did happen when someone cleared their throat. The boy's blue eyes darted to the figure, having the hope that it'd been his dad. Instead, he was greeted by a pale, slim man in a black suit. The man's half-lidded cobalt eyes rested on Danny. He smirked at the boy. Danny noticed he had silver hair, though he didn't look old enough to sport that color. "How good it is to see you awake, little badger," he said in a smooth voice. "You gave me a nasty shock when I found you."

"But I was at school," he said, while his face scrunched up in disapproval for the nickname the man dropped as if they knew each other for a long time. "Mom, who is that?"

"Danny," his mother drew out his name, "this is Vlad Masters. He's an old friend from college."

"Wait," the boy rubbed his temples, trying to dispel the headache building behind his eyes. "You don't mean _the _Vlad Masters, do you? Billionaire of the Year, Vlad Masters?"

"The very same," said Vlad, his smirk stretching into a grin. "A pleasure to finally meet the youngest member of the Fenton family."

"My parents were friends with a billionaire!" He breathed, blown away by the news. Upon exhaling, he remembered that his body ached. Danny placed a hand gingerly to his chest and winced. "How bad a shape did I get in?"

"You were bleeding quite a bit," Vlad answered, his eyes transfixed on the boy. "It was a good thing I kept up my studies in the paranormal and had a weapon on hand. Otherwise that ghost might have killed you."

The young halfa couldn't detect the subtle trace of deception from the man's face or how the words sounded a little off kilter. Still, he looked at the man oddly. "But, what were you doing at my school?"

"Would you believe it? He was going to talk to the principal about allowing him to speak at the graduation ceremony this year," Maddie gave her friend a smile before turning that same expression on her son. "At least that's what he said when he explained everything."

_That there's something lethal in the air that they can't see_

_Now a Time Lord could save me just by turning on a light_

Danny noticed Vlad moved closer, his smile looking almost feral. The boy shrank back against his pillows and pulled the blankets further over him. Maddie took this as a sign that her baby boy was cold. "I'll go get you some more blankets," she said, planting a kiss on her son's forehead and getting up to leave. "I'll only be a minute, but if you need anything, Vlad will be more than happy to get it for you."

_But I don't think that the Doctor's gonna show up tonight_

_And so I'm trying to remember what the library said to me_

The smile never left the man's face as he sat at Danny's bedside. "Anything for an old friend, Maddie," he said, addressing the woman, but eyes never leaving Danny.

The boy felt exposed under his gaze, like he was an experiment.

Then, Maddie left the two alone. The young halfa looked around his room, at his posters of space, his model rockets, his computer, anywhere but the man his mother left him with. "So, Daniel," Vlad's voice made Danny look at him. "I must have missed the start of the attack. Care to explain how you managed to attract the ghost's attention?"

"What happened to Sam and Tucker?" asked Danny, ignoring the question. He saw them run out of the building, but they could have been attacked by that ghost in their escape.

Vlad blinked and his eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Who?"

"My friends. Did you see them get out safely?" His voice hitched with the words. He needed to know they were okay. His hands gripped his sheets tightly as he waited for the answer.

"I'm so sorry, son," Danny's heart fell. "I might have missed them on my way to all the ruckus." The halfa breathed. He could imagine his friends taking the fastest route. They would have gotten to the back doors and escaped through there. That would be the case if he wasn't sure they would've gotten their guns to fight the ghost with.

Danny averted his eyes again. The man kept staring at him. He wished he would quit it. "What do you keep looking at?" he asked after a moment.

_Gotta focus on all the silhouettes that you can see_

_'Cause if the number keeps on changing then you're no use to me_

"I have no idea what you mean," said Vlad, his grin stretching further. Danny found himself meeting Vlad's eyes. He thought he saw the slightest hint of red behind the blue. But it could have just been in imagination. He buried himself further in the blankets. "Don't be so frightened, little badger."

Danny's eyes widened at the choice of words. He didn't think the man had caught his fear. He'd hoped it would have been dismissed as cold. He flashed back to the gym. The ghost's duplicate holding him pinned. The original leering down at him. The red energy forming in front of his face. The ghost had said the same thing. Well, minus the horrid nickname Vlad stuck on him. "What?" he whispered.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," said Maddie, walking in with the extra blankets. Danny breathed in relief when he saw his mother. The tension in his body deflated at once with her smile.

_So count the shadows, count the shadows_

_'Cause they're edging towards you like a hungry moth to a flame_

"Not at all, Maddie," replied Vlad, acting as if the last few minutes hadn't happened at all. "I was just talking with Daniel about nothing important."

Danny didn't like the way Vlad said that. He let his mother pile more blankets over him, grateful for the extra layers between him and that man.

Maddie nodded, tucking her son in beneath the blankets. She turned to Vlad and said, "Jack needs me in the lab, could you stay with Danny for a bit longer?"

Vlad said, "Of course."

The woman in blue gave her son a smile before leaving the two alone again. Danny had hoped his mother would have been the one to stay, sending Vlad to help his father with whatever it was he wanted.

Vlad waited a few more moments, crossing his legs and leaning back in the chair, before speaking, "Well, I suppose now that your parents are occupied, we can discuss what happened at the school."

_So count the shadows, count the shadows_

_'Cause if you've got more than one, then you're the victim that they will claim_

Danny paled and shivered in spite of the layers on top of him. "It was a ghost attack," he said. "You even told mom that."

"Oh yes, I know." Vlad fiddled his thumbs, as if waiting for something. "I know exactly what happened during that incident. Regrettably, you were injured. It's a black stain on our relationship, I'm sure."

Danny furrowed his brow, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Daniel, you can't actually take after your father that much, can you?" Vlad chuckled. "But I suppose you would have inherited some of his traits, even with Maddie as your mother."

Danny shifted in his bed, uncomfortable once more from the man's words. "You're not making any sense."

_In the library the darkness is waiting to attack_

Vlad sighed and let his smile fade. He stood up slowly, looking down at the halfa on the bed. "Let me spell it out for you, son." Two black rings formed at his waist, one moving up, another moving down. They changed his appearance so much, Danny wouldn't have thought they were the same person. But he knew the figure now standing before him. The ghost from that attacked the school. Vlad's voice obtained an odd echo, distorting it enough to make it harder for normal human ears to understand, "You're not the only hybrid in the world. Vlad Plasmius, here and present."

_And some explorers went inside but they ain't never coming back_

_Namely Miss Evangelista, Anita and two guys called Dave_

Danny bit back a cry of shock when he took in the sight before him. A solid ghostly body. Strong. His mind couldn't process seeing someone else change into a ghost. "How—" the question cut off by his own shock.

"How?" Vlad laughed. "A simple story." He changed back into Masters and sat down. "Your parents and I created a proto-portal in our college days. Jack, overeager to get it working, turned that infernal device on while I stood in front of it." His face twisted in rage. "I suffered for years in the hospital after that incident."

_And the shadows made four thousand other people disappear_

_And they've been hungry and waiting for a whole damn year_

_For some fresh meat that isn't gonna register as 'saved'_

Vlad calmed within a second when he glanced at Danny again. "And here you are after twenty years, I'm no longer alone. The irony of the larger picture is not lost on me."

Danny sat up, ignoring the pain in his body from doing so. "You nearly killed me," he accused, pointing a finger at the billionaire. "You were _going _to kill me."

"Yet you're alive," said Vlad. "As I said, our first meeting left such a black stain on our relationship. I regret that."

Danny's voice wavered. "I'm sure you do." His eyes fell to his sheets, still struggling through the revelation that he wasn't alone. Not only that, but the man had wanted him dead.

_Gotta focus on all the silhouettes that you can see_

_'Cause if the number keeps on changing then you're no use to me_

"I'd keep your eyes on me, Daniel." Vlad's voice sounded like it doubled and the young hybrid saw that the man had, indeed, duplicated himself. One Vlad stood behind the other, wearing a smug smile and inspecting his fingernails.

"You're both…" Danny's voice trailed off.

"Human?" finished the original. "Quite right."

The standing Vlad said, "And I could teach you everything I know about this other side to us. Help you hone the abilities you already have, develop new techniques—"

The original completed the list, "Find your element."

Danny couldn't decide which Vlad he should focus on. His eyes darted between the two of them. He felt his chest constrict and his body try to become smaller. The offer of gaining a teacher sounded wonderful. He would have loved that back when he first learned of his ghost half. And now a billionaire seemed to be offering it on a silver platter.

_So Count the shadows, count the shadows_

_'Cause they're edging towards you like a hungry moth to a flame_

"What happened to Sam and Tucker?" asked Danny, distracting himself.

"I'm sure they were sent to the hospital," replied Vlad. His duplicate became transparent and merged with the original. He smirked when he saw the boy's eyes widen with wonder at the display of power. But, behind the blue, green sparked and radiated anger. "Our…battle had been quite destructive. They might have been hit by fallen debris."

Danny's eyes widened at that new suggestion. "They're not…"

"Dead? I should hope not," Vlad stood up at walked over to the window. He flicked open the blinds to look onto the street below, pushing away the conflicted emotions of the younger hybrid. Even as a human, his empathetic abilities were strong. His eyes narrowed, and then he turned to Danny, wearing a false grin. "Let's push those dark thoughts out of our minds, hm? Do you accept my offer?"

_So count the shadows, count the shadows_

_'Cause if you've got more than one, then you're the victim that they will claim_

"I don't know," said Danny quietly. He picked at the topmost blanket. He felt so much younger in that moment. "I just…just met you and you're a billionaire. And you tried to kill me. And my friends are probably in the hospital because of you. And I don't know. What would you _want_ from me?"

Vlad closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You keep reminding me of my folly, boy. I _realize_ my mistake. I'm _attempting_ to remedy that with my offer." He leaned against the wall by the window, crossing his arms, and said, "In response to your question, I would only ask you to agree to be my heir. Should I die, all of my assets would become yours." That wolfish smile returned, baring his teeth, "You could have the world at your fingertips."

Danny, again, shrunk beneath this man's gaze. He didn't know what to do about that offer. It sounded great. It really did. To be taught how to use his powers would be a dream come true. He wasn't alone anymore. But, he couldn't get past the fact that it was because of the same man that he and his friends were hurt.

Vlad picked up on the unease and said, "There's no rush, Daniel. You may think on it." He pushed himself from the wall and made his way to the door. "I know I promised your mother I'd stay with you while she worked with _Jack_, but I had my say and there are things I still need to take care of while I'm here in Amity Park. Do be good and stay in bed while you heal. Ta!"

_An invisible carnivorous aggressive armada_

He left the younger hybrid alone in his room, shutting the door firmly behind him. Vlad's face fell from the false cheeriness to a steady frown. Knowing the Fentons as well as he did, occasional surveillance notwithstanding, his offer would keep the boy busy thinking for a while.

As he walked down the hall, his mental map of the house telling him he'd come over the basement laboratory, Vlad morphed once again into Plasmius. After twenty years with his ghost form, he had become very used to the feeling of his body dying.

He felt the conflicting emotions of the hybrid he left behind even stronger than he had as a human. The inner conflict pleased him. Eventually, thought Vlad, Danny would accept his offer. But for now, he would settle for completing his revenge.

_And they go by the name of the Vashta Nerada_

_A thousand thousand million piranhas in the air_

Plasmius let his form fall through the building until he entered the lab. The two scientists worked over a new weapon of theirs. They didn't notice the ghost hovering above them. He dropped visibility anyway, just to keep the element of surprise.

He frowned at the way Maddie looked at Jack. He could feel their love so intensely he could have mistaken it for his own. Yes, he had loved Maddie in his youth, but he no longer desired her affections. He only despised the way the man who caused his suffering had obtained the happiness Vlad could no longer have. The prime years of his life had been ripped away from him and, even if he wanted to, he could never have children. That accident robbed him of his chance for a family.

Plasmius landed on the ground and walked behind the two adults. His eyes narrowed at the large frame of Jack as he welded a few pieces of casing together. "Maddie-cakes, pass me the do-hickey, will you?" The oaf's voice grated against Vlad's eardrums. He still didn't know the technical terms for most of his tools. The fool.

_And the tingle on your skin that you feel in the dark_

_May be the hungry ones who contemplate leaving a mark_

He brushed his fingers over the back of Jack's neck. It would be so simple to send a shock of electricity through his system strong enough to kill him. The man shuddered under Vlad's touch, but thought nothing of it. Some ghost hunter. Plasmius nearly laughed out loud and blown his cover.

Plasmius lowered his hand. Electrifying the man would be ironic. But it wouldn't be gratifying. He didn't want to give Jack a chance to fight back, that would let him die with some dignity. Jack needed something worse.

After a few moments contemplating the impending demise for his old friend, Vlad regained visibility. He saw Maddie's eyes notice him, but her reaction time was slower than his. Before she could whip out a gun to defend against the ghost, Vlad shot eyebeams at her utility pouch, destroying the technology within. "Dear me, you startled me," exclaimed the ghost, his face twisted in a comic mockery of surprise.

_So when you're reaching for your light switch, make sure you're prepared_

This gained Jack's attention who turned to face Plasmius. His small eyes narrowed in disgust at the form standing just inches from him. "How did you get in here, spook?" asked the hunter. One of his hands searched the table behind him for any viable weapon.

_Gotta focus on all the silhouettes that you can see_

_'Cause if the number keeps on changing then you're no use to me_

"As if it's so hard to walk through walls," mocked Plasmius. He charged his hands with his ectoenergy. "But if you haven't noticed, I'm not the slightest bit transparent."

Maddie, apparently, took notice of that fact the moment he spoke. She crouched into a defensive position, arms raised appropriately to grant her proper time to react. "You'd best leave before I destroy you—"

Vlad crossed the distance, letting her physical attacks phase through him. Maddie realized she fought a losing battle. Vlad rammed one of his fists into her stomach, forcing the air from her lungs. She slumped over his shoulder, unconscious and he let her slide to the floor. One less distraction stood in the way of his goal.

_So count the shadows, count the shadows_

_'Cause they're edging towards you like a hungry moth to a flame_

Jack, in the meantime, hardened his eyes on the ghost and punched through the specter with everything he had. "No ghost gets away with attacking my family," he cried, hoping to land a hit on the intangible body.

Plasmius blinked and gripped a hand over Jack's throat. "I would appreciate it if you stopped talking," he growled. His already charged hand burned through the man's jumpsuit. "I'd rather not hear your blathering while I kill you. You might alert the boy."

The grip tightened around Jack's throat, cutting off his air supply. The man struggled and managed to grab a hold of the ghost's arm. Plasmius scowled and sent electricity through Jack's body. He tried to scream, but it came out mangled and muffled. The shock wouldn't be enough to kill him.

Plasmius threw the human down. His girth prevented him from sliding too far across the floor. He released one of the charged blasts at the man's right knee. He cried out, but not loud enough for a hybrid's ears to pick up through two floors. Blood splattered across the floor and seeped through the burned whole of the suit, dripping down the latex. Jack grabbed the injury, putting pressure on it to stop the bleeding.

Plasmius flew over to his prey, red eyes narrowed with hatred. "Do you know why I'm doing this, Jack?" He asked, reaching his hand out to clutch the man's throat again. He heard an attempt at an insult as he resumed choking his former friend. "You essentially created me." Plasmius pushed the hefty man into the floor. "You made me this abomination to the living world. I can't have a family because of your blundering. Any hope of a normal life was wiped out because I associated myself with you."

Jack struggled top break free of the stranglehold. He didn't understand what the ghost was talking about. He clawed at the ghost's arms, to no avail. His vision grew darker. He couldn't breathe. Something pushed against his stomach. It grew uncomfortably warm. He tried to squirm, break free, anything. He wheezed out his one word for mercy. A word he never thought he'd say to a ghost, "Please."

_So count the shadows, count the shadows_

_'Cause if you've got more than one, then you're the victim that they will claim_

The man's world went black when Plasmius released the burst of ectoplasmic energy through his gut. Blood sprayed upward, covering the ghost's previously clean shirt. He let go of the human's neck and ran a blood slicked hand through his hair. He was glad that nasty business had finally been taken care of. All of those years in the hospital, trying to find a cure for the condition that seemed to keep killing him over and over again, Vlad finally felt some form of closure.

"What?" asked a young voice at the stairs.

His ruby eyes shot over to see the youngest Fenton, leaning against the wall with wide eyes. Vlad wondered how much the boy had seen. Although, considering the scene he walked in on, the older hybrid knew he had been caught. "I believe it's rather obvious," he said. He didn't feel the need to lie.

"Why?" The fear and growing hatred poured off the boy. His ice blue eyes flicked over to his mother.

"I do recall telling you how I came to be this way, Daniel," said Vlad, changing into his human form. The blood stayed on his person, staining his shirt. His silver hair matted down with the crimson liquid. "Your father caused years of pain for me. Your mother, though she was part of the incident as well, will live. I never could blame her."

_So count the shadows, count the shadows_

Danny backed up the stairs, his form shaking. He had to get away from that nightmare. His foot caught on one of the stairs and he fell onto their sharp edges. He cried out and scrambled up the rest of the way. He wondered where Jazz was. She would be able to tell him that everything was just a bad dream. She could make sense of everything. He wished she had been there when he woke up.

He heard the man he had considered taking instruction from call after him. He felt his control over his human half slip as he became more like a ghost. His body lost its obedience to gravity the moment he entered the kitchen. The ceiling hit him and he clung to it, wishing the other hybrid would not think to look up.

His wish was not granted and his painfully awful hiding place was discovered a few seconds later. "Get down, here," ordered Vlad. "You can't hope to run from me, boy."

_'Cause they're edging towards you like a hungry moth to a flame_

Danny curled in himself, ignoring the man's voice. He could see the self-satisfaction on the man's face as he stood over his father's (no. Not dead. Can't be dead) bloody body. The blood pooling around the neon orange. The ghost that killed him. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to keep those thoughts out of his head. It couldn't be right. Had to be a dream. He almost accepted that murderer's offer.

_So count the shadows, count the shadows_

_'Cause if you've got more than one, then you're the victim that they will claim_

Vlad looked at the traumatized boy on the ceiling and sighed. He had hoped Daniel would have taken his advice and stayed in bed. The older man wondered if the young hybrid had heard his father's mangled cry. That would be the only explanation that made any sense to Vlad. He knew it meant Daniel's heightened senses were stronger than his own in both forms. He wondered what other surprises the younger had.

He changed back into Plasmius and raised his cloak's hood over his head. He would need to leave the boy and give him time to recover from the trauma he stumbled upon. Danny would blame him, as Vlad knew well. But, that wouldn't matter in the long run. Nothing about that first meeting would really change the inevitable outcome.

Plasmius became invisible and flew out of the house. Having the boy see him stand over his father's corpse would be nothing years from now. He knew that the younger hybrid would have enough time to heal, having spent twenty years studying his own body. Plasmius knew that everything would come into his favor in time. Still, even with that small upset, he felt a smile form on his lips. He would no longer spend the rest of his existence alone and he had finally killed the man who stuck him in limbo. His future already looked less like the lonely Hell on Earth he thought he'd be forced to live through.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Now say goodbye to Uncle Vlad! He's off to do some scheming for some future act.

Maybe I should address killing Jack? I planned in the beginning that he would be dead by the end of this act by Vlad's hand. I guess it also sets a tone for this story at little better than the first two scenes of this Act.

There will be an intermission up next before the next Act starts up.


	4. Intermission 1

**A/N:** As promised, your intermission. No music. Just, little snippets from the next Act to whet your appetite. Oh, before I forget, I won't be uploading anything more until, at the earliest, the end of December when I'm back in the States.

**Disclaimer:** Danny Phantom is definitely not owned by this writer.

* * *

><p><span>Carry the Fire<span>

by MidnightResWri

* * *

><p><span>Intermission<span>

* * *

><p><em>A steel-toed boot slammed into his chest, forcing him to roll onto his back. He couldn't keep his eyes off the swirling red. "Well, well, well. It seems we'll have to teach you some manners, won't we little ghost boy?" The man leered at the captured boy still trying to fight against him.<em>

…

"_If I could just make him happy…" He stared up at the sky as the rain fell. His raven hair became plastered to his head the longer he stood outside._

…

"_Ah HA! See that? He's mine!" The triumphant smile spread on his lips. He twirled his staff, ready for the next act to start._

…

"_Please…help." He didn't know why he said that to her. She stared after his retreating form, a hand clutched to her chest_


	5. Act 2, Scene 1: The Subwave Signal

**A/N: **I figured it was time to get Jazz in here. I rather like her, mainly because she surprised me while I wrote her.

This Act begins with an instrumental song. So, no lyrics to keep you company. The Act's title, however, comes from the second song. Also, I think I lied in the summary. I believe the happier days died when Jack did. But I'm not changing it, you hear? I like that summary, darn it! Oh, and the chapter's longer than usual. No lyrics to tie me down. [S]: Laugh an Evil Laugh!

Another thing of note: The PRIZE for guessing the major players in this act based on the Intermission goes to…VampireFruitLoopsRule. Well, you had one character too many, but bravo on seeing through the thinly veiled characters. You may collect your PRIZE at any time. Details provided at the end of the chapter.

**Disclaimer:** Songs, show, characters, yadda, yadda are not mine etc, etc. Let's just get on with it, yes?

* * *

><p><span>Carry the Fire<span>

By MidnightResWri

* * *

><p><span>Act 2: Treacherous Compliance<span>

* * *

><p><span>Scene 1: The Subwave Signal<span>

* * *

><p>Jack Fenton had been buried two months. Danny stood at his snow covered headstone, reading the text his mother had chosen.<p>

Again.

His shaggy hair covered the dull blue of his once bright eyes. Oh, he missed the sound of his father's laughter. The memories of being called down to the lab to see the latest invention echoed in his mind. Danny wished for those days to return and go back to when things were simpler.

He had grown to hate the murderer who could never be given the justice deserved. Danny dreamed of revenge he could never hope to achieve. He knew the power difference and hated himself for being so useless. And, because of his guilt, the boy threw himself at the ghosts, coming home with more injuries than he cared to explain. The therapist put him on suicide watch for a while after his first serious injury.

Danny knew he couldn't tell his mother the truth. That he knew the killer was not a simple spirit. He couldn't tell his sister. He couldn't tell the therapist. They wouldn't believe him. His hands tightened in to fists at his sides.

His sister, Jazz, stood at his side. She had come home to find her brother on the ceiling, though she wouldn't tell him that. She didn't tell their mother, when she woke up to see her husband's bloody corpse, about her brother's bizarre disregard for gravity. Jazz counted herself lucky that she never needed to explain how her little brother had curled up in the air. He had already fallen to the table before the women emerged from the basement. He refused to talk about it, anyway.

Jazz was supposed to take him to his therapist, but they passed the cemetery on the way thanks to roadwork. The redhead obliged his request to stop and phoned ahead to say that her brother wouldn't be able to make his appointment. The secretary understood. Both the psychologist and Jazz agreed that openly mourning would help his recovery. Let him grieve, he had said.

She would happily give him the world to see those gray eyes return to their former baby blue.

Danny let out a scream, falling to his knees and began to sob. He couldn't bring himself to care that his shins were now freezing and wet. He couldn't bring himself to care that his sister could see his weakness. She didn't care that he let her see it.

"My, my, what a splendid show," said a high tenor voice accompanied by the sound of muffled applause. "I always do find cemeteries to be full of inspiration."

Danny's breath hitched at the sound of the stranger's voice. He hiccuped as he tried to keep his tears inside. Strangers didn't need to see his grief.

Jazz saw her brother attempt to pick himself back together and turned around to glare at the newcomer. His skin was paler than she'd ever seen before, being nearly white in color. His top hat obscured any hair he might have had. The man wore sunglasses, hiding his eyes. She took a sharp breath before clenching her teeth and pointing at him with an accusatory finger and said, "Don't you dare talk like that in front of us!"

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," said the man, taking a step forward, his smile plastered on his face. His strange and Gothic inspired staff stabbed into the snow. "I'm just a harmless entertainer, looking for ways to improve my act."

He extended a gloved hand towards the elder sister, "The name's Frederich Showenhower. To adoring fans, I'm called Freakshow, Master of the Ring of Circus Gothica."

"What is that, some kind of advertisement?" asked Jazz, crossing her arms. The young woman didn't take his hand. She didn't like the vibe he gave off. Seeing this, Frederich lowered his hand. She stole a glance at her brother. He looked like he needed more time before she could get him to move. This stranger stayed near them, one hand shoved into his overcoat's pocket.

"You can view it as such," he mused. "My train did just pull into town a few hours ago. I thought I might get lucky and see the famous Danny Phantom if I strolled through the usual haunts of the restless dead."

Danny stiffened.

"I'm sure you'd be better off running around the town like the rest of the ghost hunters," she said, spitting out as much venom as she could muster on the last two words.

"Yes," said Frederich, "I could do that, but the cemetery is for the dead, after all. Ghosts and the like are drawn to these areas." His eyes slid to the boy's back still turned to him. "I am curious, though. What is the reason for such anger and grief in the child?"

Danny spun around, glaring at the pale man. He opened his mouth to tell the man where he could go and stick his curiosity when he saw something red and swirling within the small sphere on the top of Frederich's staff. The words caught in his throat as his eyes fixated on the orb. His face lost its anger, becoming a blank slate. Instead of insults and without emotion, he said, "I watched my father die at the hands of a ghost."

He shook his head, blinking rapidly. Where had that come from, wondered Danny. The top of the staff looked so nice. He could have stared at it without pause. The answer just flew out of his mouth before he realized what he was doing. It just felt so right to answer the man. Danny fought the desire to look at the orb again.

"Interesting," said the ringmaster. He raised his eyebrows, the response something he never expected to hear. He didn't expect the rage to die away. In fact, he would have welcomed it as another source for inspiration. He already had the basic outline of a script and staging forming in his head. Nothing was solid, he reminded himself, changes could be made this early in the show.

Neither sibling noticed he moved the staff so his free hand covered the orb. Frederich would content himself with watching this strange boy.

Danny took a step away from Frederich, bumping into his father's headstone. Jazz caught him before he could fall and leaned in towards his ear. She whispered, "What's gotten into you little brother? You've never said anything about dad's death before."

"I don't know," he matched her volume. "I…just…"

His voice trailed off and his sister gave him a tired smile before stepping away and giving him space. Jazz's eyes never left him, which did not go unnoticed by both hybrid and ringmaster. Danny kept his eyes planted on the ground, pushing away his sister's gaze and a strange longing to lose himself in that alluring red. He, instead, focused on the excuse his sister was forming for the two of them. She said something about needing to get home soon. Their mother expected them home.

He scowled, shoving his hands into his pockets. Hearing the lie made him feel sick, but at least it overrode the longing for the calming swirls. Maddie didn't like them coming home early from his appointments. She either holed herself in her room, or sat at the kitchen table, stirring at cold and stale coffee, trying to pretend her office wasn't the basement lab. He never liked seeing the tear stains on her cheeks, either. A reminder that everything was his fault.

Frederich extended his hand once more to the brother and sister, holding two tickets. "I'm feeling quite generous at the moment, children," he said, careful to keep his eyes on the oldest sibling. "Here are tickets to the opening night of my circus. Tomorrow after sunset. I can promise you it'll be _spectacular_."

Jazz took the tickets, said her thanks and wished him luck in finding Phantom. She pulled Danny along after her toward her car. The boy struggled to keep pace with his sister. The tight grip on his arm kept him from falling behind, but also made it harder for him to gain his footing. He watched the white ground move beneath his feet until they arrived at the car. He heard the doors click open the moment Jazz let him go.

Danny opened the car door and took a deep breath. He threw a quick glance back at his father's grave. The black coated ringmaster remained standing there, leaning his weight on the staff. The boy shuddered when his eyes met Frederich's shaded ones. Danny snapped his eyes away, stopping briefly on the red topped orb. Like before, it felt natural to lose himself in the constant motion. "Danny," hissed Jazz, snapping his attention away from the man and his strange staff. "Get in the car."

Numbly, he nodded and did as he was told. Jazz drove them out of the cemetery, heading for home. "What was that, Danny?" She asked, her hands tightened around the steering wheel. "We've been keeping that private. _You _haven't talked about that day to anyone."

Danny's lips became a thin line. He stared out the window, watching the buildings of Amity Park fly by. He didn't expect his sister to understand.

"Sam tells me you're not even talking at school," said Jazz. She sighed and continued, "I'm worried for you little brother."

The hybrid turned his head to look at his sister. He saw her eyes flick over to meet his for a quick second. "His staff," he said, hoping her genius would figure it out on her own.

"What about it?" she scoffed. "That over-stylized thing? It probably would've been fine if it didn't have that stupid clear ball on top."

"Clear?" He tensed his shoulders, eyes wide. That orb was definitely not clear. "Not red?" He fisted his hands.

The redhead shook her head. "Where did you get the idea it was red?"

Danny opened his mouth to respond with the truth, but could not bring himself to say it. He had the feeling it would feel utterly ridiculous to say it out loud. He shook his head and resumed staring out the window.

After a few minutes, Danny asked, "Are we going to his circus?"

Jazz shrugged ran a hand through her long hair as they slowed to a stop. "Only if you want and if mom says it's okay. Even though he's a total creep, he might run a decent show. We can always use the distraction."

* * *

><p>Maddie had stared at her son with an open mouth. He had asked her for permission to go out somewhere with his sister. She was even more surprised that he looked almost eager to go. She couldn't refuse her baby boy anything that might make him smile and told the two of them to have fun when they went the next night.<p>

So, there the siblings stood at the entrance of Circus Gothica. The performer, a woman covered completely in tattoos, accepted their tickets. Danny shivered when she approached them and looked over his shoulder and then at the sky. He shifted his weight, looking ready to run until the feeling passed, having dismissed it for the winter chill, and settled down. Jazz gave her brother a curious look, but did not press it. The woman guided the two teenagers to their seats within the largest tent, the location stunning them.

They sat in a private booth above the stands with a perfect view of the center ring. A space heater warmed the booth. Jazz shrugged out of her coat and sat down, pulling a book from her purse. She only came to humor her brother. Danny sat beside her, tugging at the hem of his shirt. He leaned forward as far as he could to see more of the ring. He noticed Jazz shaking her head and frowned at her lack of interest. He was grateful, though, that she agreed to come with him.

After a few more minutes, the lights above them dimmed until only a spotlight remained. The crowd fell silent as a man stepped into the light. From their angle, Danny could not see the face beneath the brim of the top hat. He already knew who stood in that bright light, though. His eyes locked on the staff and the red tipped orb, feeling his emotions fall away from his awareness again.

"Ladies and gentlemen," announced Frederich, "I, Freakshow, welcome you all on this journey with me to the darker realms. **Nothing** witnessed here is an illusion or a trick." He spread his arms open, his coat billowing open. "**Everything** will challenge your perception of reality." Here, he raised his staff and his head, looking in the direction of the two youths he met in the cemetery. "Surrender your preconceived notions of truth and love. Surrender your indoctrinated belief that we live in a world of rationality. Because here at Circus Gothica, the world becomes a little more terrifying and a lot more awe inspiring." He backed out of the spotlight, so the audience could no longer see him. "So, join us as we open your mind to the impossible."

The tent's lights burst to life, blinding the audience for a moment before the music began. Danny stared at the spot Frederich had occupied. The ringmaster told him to join them. Join the circus. He couldn't explain it, but Danny thought the idea to be brilliant. He stayed in his seat, mulling his options while the performance started below. The tattooed lady danced with a tall, thin man. They eventually started rising into the air, eliciting gasps from the audience. Other performers joined the two from the air, gliding down from the cieling in wide circles around the couple trailing black, white, and red banners. Below, skeletal figures emerged with swords and spears, circling one other as a pair and started clashing their weapons in time with the band.

Danny's eyes widened and he ignored the persistent shivering, despite the searing heat right beside him, he had since the moment the performance began. Jazz, too, set her book down and watched the dancers, the banner bearers, and the choreographed fight. The more he watched, the more Danny wanted to fly up with the others. He wanted to be with them and forget everything. He wanted to forget his father's murder, the hybrid who killed him and the grief and longing for vengeance that ate Danny's heart.

So, the boy stood up and walked out of the booth. His sister asked him where he was going and he mumbled a half-hearted reply of searching for the bathroom.

"Hurry back," said Jazz.

Danny nodded and descended the stairs. His face lost the awe he held for the performance the moment it became background noise. His mind became a haze as he made his way around the public area until he came to a curtain separating the backstage from public viewing. He paid no attention to the signs telling him he should not be there. He pushed the curtain aside and joined those backstage. Danny ignored the chaos around him of those rushing to get into costumes. He failed to notice the more transparent bodies floating behind more solid figures or that some of those spirits slipped in or out of the humans.

He only stopped once he arrived behind the ringmaster of the circus, standing at the point where the two curtains met before the center ring. Frederich's critical frown turned into a pleasantly surprised grin. "I saw you leave your seat, boy," he mused, rubbing circles on his staff with his thumb. "I had my doubts, to be honest." The man turned around to face the hybrid. He tapped a finger to his chin. "You're certainly not ghostly."

Danny said nothing. Frederich circled the boy. "What do you see in the crystal?"

"Red," he replied. An automatic response Danny couldn't be sure where it came from. "Swirling red."

"Interesting," Frederich stopped behind Danny, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You wouldn't be like my performers, would you? Possessing this child?"

Shaking his head, Danny answered, "No. I'm half-ghost." Danny raised a hand to his head, digging the heel of his palm into an eye. "What am I saying?"

"Half-ghost?" echoed the ringmaster. "There's no such thing. Prove yourself, child."

Danny wanted to resist the order given by the man. Revealing his secret was the last thing he wanted to do. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes tight. He heard Frederich's boot tapping beside him. His chin was forced up and he cracked an eye open to look at the man. "Didn't you hear me?" the man asked. "Prove. Your. claim."

He transformed into Phantom and the emotions of hundreds of people and spirits slammed into him. He blinked and shook his head, clarity flooding through his system from the shock. He realized what he had done and who had witnessed his change. "Oh god," he rasped. "Oh dear god." He didn't move. He asked himself why he stayed in place. He needed to leave. He exposed his secret to a virtual stranger.

"Well, well, well," said Frederich, drawing Danny's attention back to him and to the orb. The swirling red dulled his empathic abilities, but he still felt that curiosity, greed, and overall desire for him. He stared at that orb, the force as compelling as it was repelling for the young hybrid. He stayed locked in place. "A full and _solid_ spectral body. I wouldn't even need you to possess an actor. You have your own body to return to…Danny Phantom."

Frederich drew a line down Phantom's jaw with a finger and then jerked the boy's head left and right, examining it. He smiled, baring his teeth. "Well, you'll just have to go into the fifth car of the train until I come for you, now won't you? Don't be seen. Don't be heard. Stay there and await my further instructions."

Danny nodded and faded from visibility.

* * *

><p>It'd been hours. Jazz grew agitated in her seat. The Circus was nearly done and Danny hadn't returned. She hoped he didn't use the outing to runaway. Jazz ran her fingers through her long hair. "So you came, too," said a disappointed voice. She turned around to see the ringmaster leaning against the booth's support beams.<p>

"Mr. Showenhower," she said, her voice cold. "I didn't think you mingled with the audience."

"I don't," he said, examining the finer details of his staff. "It's bad showmanship."

"Then why are you here?" Jazz straightened her shoulders.

"Obvious," he said. Frederich lightly tossed the staff into the air and caught, staring at Jazz. His lips stretched into a wide grin. "I need you out of the way, my dear."

Jazz stood up from her seat, taking an involuntary step back. Her book clattered to the floor. She knew what it meant when someone said that. Her eyes landed on the book on the floor. A plan half-formed in her mind. At the moment, it was the only option. She moved quickly, grabbed the book, and then her coat, and gave the text a silent apology. She chucked it at the ringmaster. "You'll have to catch me first."

The sharp corner of the book hit his chest. He cried out, taking a few steps back. Jazz took the opportunity, pushed past the ringmaster and ran down the stairs. She darted through the growing crowd, shouting for her brother. She needed to get him and get going. She could already hear the cries for her to be stopped. The other members of the audience did nothing, thinking it was another part of the show. She continued shouting for Danny.

When he didn't show himself, Jazz left the main tent, struggling to put her coat on as she ran through people milling around the area. They looked at her with bemused expressions. She stopped for a moment, catching her breath. Cupping her hands to her mouth, she called for Danny. He didn't answer. No one came running up to her. The girl looked over her shoulder and saw the ringmaster aiming that crystal-topped rod in her direction. Performers rushed out of the tent after her.

With one final cry for her brother, Jazz took off for her car. She knew she would feel guilty about it later, leaving her brother. But she needed to get out of there. Tell her mom that the circus was insane. Tell her mom that Danny's missing and that it was her fault. She unlocked the door and got in, hesitating to start the car. Could she do that to her mother? It would only break her heart more.

She bit her lip and started the car as the cast of Circus Gothica got into view. The tattooed woman jumped onto the hood. Jazz screamed and started driving out of panic. She smashed into the cars around her, not bothering to stop and assess the damage or do the other proper procedures. She couldn't, not with murderous circus performers after her. Jazz stepped on the gas, still screaming. She swerved quickly to throw the woman off.

It wasn't until Jazz turned onto the road that her hood became clear of the room. The scream died down and she breathed heavily, trying to calm herself down. Her arms trembled and her knuckles turned white. "Oh my god," she moaned. "Oh my god. I just left my little brother. I left my little brother at a psychotic circus."

Her mind refused to process that and she shut up until she pulled into a diner parking lot. Jazz peeled her fingers off the steering wheel and turned off the car. Her heart settled back to its usual steady beat. Her breathing slowly returned to normal. "Okay, Jazz," she said. "You'll go back there for Danny. You just need a plan. Can't let mom know Danny's missing and probably in that freak's hands. Why Frederich Showenhower would want Danny, you'll just have to figure out. Can't go home yet."

She licked her lips and looked over her shoulder. No one approached her. She was safe for now. She sank into the driver's seat, adrenaline draining from her system. "I need to find Danny's friends. They might know something."

* * *

><p>Danny did not hear his sister call for him. He heard nothing from within the train car. He hadn't moved, though now he no longer had that orb right in front of him, he tried. His ghostly limbs refused to cooperate. He was terrified that he couldn't move. He couldn't return to humanity and the living. He was stuck and he hated it.<p>

Frederich entered the car after many agonizing hours of uselessness on the boy's part. He turned the staff in circles with his thumb and fingers. Danny's resistance to the original order lessened with every second the orb stayed within sight. "What do you want with me?" he asked, his voice strangled.

"Hm," the ringmaster frowned. "I never gave you permission to speak." He pointed the crystal tip at Danny's nose, a sneer on his face. "But to answer your question. I want you as a performer for my circus. And not just any performer. You'd be the main attraction. Wow the audience with everything I put into your little head. Eventually, you'll be so wrapped around my thumb, you'll be begging to get me everything I desire. Just like the others."

The boy widened his eyes and took a step back. The sick joy and perverse interest toward him disgusted Danny. He used those emotions from the ringmaster to ground him against the liberating feeling coming from the staff. He twisted his face in his revulsion and spat in Frederich's face.

The man wiped the saliva off his cheek. "Change back to human," he ordered. Danny obeyed. The satisfaction that his orders would still be followed did not sooth the ringmaster. He gripped the metal rod tightly before using it to strike the boy's face.

Danny cried out and crumpled to the floor. His mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood, which he spat out onto the floor. The fluid dripped from his mouth as he continued spitting. He felt more hot blood on his cheek, flowing down from his eyebrow. A huge, ugly bruise bloomed over half his face. His body started the healing process, though it would have been faster in his spectral form. He struggled to his feet, but Frederich used the staff to sweep his arms out from under him. Danny fell to the floor, the pain keeping him from influence of the sphere for the moment.

"I don't understand it," said Frederich, standing over him. "Is it your human part that allows you to resist it or are you this aggravating for everyone? You must tell me."

Danny tried getting up again, now spitting out only the remnants of the blood from his wound. His other cut still remained open and bleeding. "Fuck you, Showenhower."

A steel-toed boot slammed into his chest, forcing him to roll onto his back. Danny couldn't keep his eyes off the swirling red. "Well, well, well. It seems we'll have to teach you some manners, won't we little ghost boy?" The man leered at the captured boy still fighting against him.

Danny coughed as he drew in breath. Frederich stepped one foot on Danny's chest, leaning the orb as close as possible to the boy's face. Danny struggled to breathe. "It's inevitable, you know. You're sister left you here with me."

The hybrid stared at the man in disbelief, seeing his astonished expression reflected back at him in the sunglasses. Jazz couldn't have left him there. He grimaced when the boot repositioned itself to dig the toe into his chest, a strangled grunt noise pulled from his throat. Frederich leaned down, putting more of his weight on that foot, and chuckled. "We're going to have a grand time breaking you, now aren't we?" The ringmaster motioned to two performers standing in the shadows. The stars of the first act stepped forward, bowed their heads, and reached down to take Danny's arms.

Frederich stepped off the boy, letting the two take him. "Bring him to the center ring of the main tent. No patrons should be left lingering around at this hour. We can teach him together to respect his master." He grinned as he watched the three leave the car. The boy started resisting against the grips of the man and woman. Frederich called out one last order, "Lydia, if he puts up too much of a fight, feel free to punish him as you see fit. Just don't kill him." The tattooed woman nodded.

The ringmaster waited a few minutes to collect himself. He brushed off invisible dirt, straightened his hat and took out his pocket watch, noting the time. He heard a scream that could only belong to his new prize. Frederich smiled and left the car, walking to the main tent without a care in the world.

* * *

><p>Sam and Tucker rode in Jazz's car, confused and worried for their best friend. They only came along with the sister after they saw her panic and confusion. Their parents tried to stop them from going out and failed. Both children knew the promise of punishment awaited them.<p>

Jazz wanted answers immediately, but both younger teens refused to answer her. "We need to get to somewhere private," the friends had told her.

So, she drove them to the Nasty Burger, long after it had closed. The hour neared eleven at night. Not a single employee loitered in the store at that hour. The three sets of fresh footprints wouldn't be noticed in the well-trafficked snow, either.

Sitting at one of the outdoor tables, they began to talk. "Jazz, we need to know what's going on," said Sam. "Danny's not…" she almost said he wasn't around his home. That he was somewhere further away. "He's not answering his phone."

"I left Danny at a circus," the girl admitted, feeling small.

"You what?" Both friends jumped up from their seats, leaning over the table. They glared at the sister.

Jazz looked away from them and licked her lips. Sam, still glowering, demanded that Jazz to tell them everything. The older girl obliged leaving out no detail in the hope that they would know something. She started with the cemetery and went through her most shameful moment. "I didn't know what to do," she said. She buried her head in her arms. "I think he wanted Danny and he definitely wanted me dead. I can't do this alone. Please tell me what you know."

Tucker shared a look with Sam. She sighed and nodded. The boy took a breath and said, "We need more information on this Circus Gothica and Frederich Showenhower, first."

"Then _we'll_ deal with this," added Sam, gesturing to herself and Tucker. "Just Tucker and I. We'll be able to find him, I promise. But this is something the two of us need to do to get Danny back."

"No!" cried Jazz. She threw her hands palms down on the table. "He's my brother and I know there's something weird going on with him. He won't tell me, but I know! This whole thing is my fault."

Sam paused and took a sharp breath. "You _know_? For how long?"

Jazz nodded. "I don't know the specifics, but the day…the day my father was killed…" She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the stab in her heart. "I saw him on the ceiling. He was just…floating there. I think he was in shock and I don't know how he did it. That could be why he wanted Danny. But how could he know about _that_?"

"Your conversation," said Sam, furrowing her eyebrows. "He told you he saw red in that staff, but you didn't. That might be a clue."

Tucker pulled out his PDA, accessing the Internet with a few buttons pressed. "I'm looking up all the public information on this guy for now. I'll have to use a laptop or desktop to dig up more." He typed in keywords, pulling up multiple web pages. His eyes darted around the screen, taking in the information. The girls waited on edge for him to finish. "Yeah, I got nothing. Other than his show being lauded as an astounding show and otherworldly in their acts. Standard praise for this sort of thing. Once I'm in my room, I can get something substantial."

"Otherworldly?" asked Sam. She grabbed his sweater, pulling him closer. "Tucker, think about Danny. He's about as 'otherwordly' as you can get!"

Tucker swallowed and laughed. "Sorry Sam," he said. "You might be right. But, before we jump to any conclusions, we'll have to find out what's up with that staff and dig deeper into this Showenhower guy."

Jazz felt some of her worry dissipate. While it wasn't gone completely, she felt a little more hope that she would get her brother back. "Alright," she said. "I saw a poster saying he'd be here for a week. The show was almost over around nine. That gives us plenty of time to come up with something."

"Oh no," said Sam, a dark smile lighting her lips. "We're going as soon as we're able. If I'm thinking correctly about this Freakshow, we'll be able to get there by tomorrow." She raised an eyebrow at Tucker. "If you pull an all nighter, that is."

"What is thing you call 'sleep'?" he asked, caressing his PDA with a thumb. "I'll have everything we'll need by tomorrow."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Okay, so there you have it. End of Act 2, Scene 1. Danny's under Frederich's, aka Freakshow's, control and his staff is less conspicuous as the mind-control device to full-humans. Even he can't see the swirling red of the sphere.

As for the PRIZE I mentioned above. I've decided to offer one during each intermission to those who can accurately guess the players speaking or performing the action described in the tidbits provided in their reviews. Shouldn't be too hard, considering I've tried to make it obvious without coming right out and giving you the names. Anyway, you get your choice of the following and I will make it reality:  
>An original short story or poem.<br>A one-shot fan fiction or poem.  
>A drawing of whatever you want (within reason). (Colored or B&amp;W)<br>An exclusive look at the next chapter, story, one-shot of any one fan fiction listed on my profile you'd like to see.

I'll work on your choice and have it ready within a week, barring exams or deadlines for classes, in which case it might be delayed another week. If you ask for the drawing, please keep in mind I do not have a graphics tablet (yet. I'm working on it), so if you ask for colored, it will either be with colored pencil or marker. I do, however, have a scanner.

Should multiple people win the PRIZE, I'll try to get things done within a reasonable amount of time. Just don't hate me if it takes a bit longer. Also, the PRIZE for the Intermissions will be closed after the next chapter here is put up.

To claim your PRIZE, just PM me with "PRIZE" as the subject and tell me your choice in the body. After that, we'll discuss the finer details, like format, subject, genre, how you want it delivered over cyberspace, etc. FYI, I'm only going to respond to valid claims to the prizes.

Hm, I probably could have come up with this idea before hand. Okay…to be fair…I'll keep your "guessing" (it's not guessing anymore. This chapter just hands it to you on a silver platter.) open to the next three people who want to claim it before I get the next chapter up after this. Just PM me with the character names and your choice for this one, 'kay?


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